A Hindu retreat center without a center to retreat to was looking for a space to call its own. It found it in the nearly century-old headquarters of a Catholic order, on the market after the sisters who lived there announced in February of 2024 that they would be closing their Akron motherhouse.
Life Gurukula, with an address in Solon and a community that stretches from Boston to Houston to Portland, Oregon, bought the former Our Lady of the Elms motherhouse at 1230 W. Market St. in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood for $2.21 million. Rajiv Sahni, the organization’s treasurer, said he looked as far as Youngstown and into Pennsylvania to find a suitable location for the center for spiritual reflection before landing on this one.
“The vibe of that building is really calming and spiritual,” Sahni said. “When I walked the halls initially, it’s as if you’re home. There’s very little pretense and a lot of comfort.”
Life Gurukula is part of the Vedic tradition of Hinduism, and Sahni said he intends to have a temple and an auditorium in the motherhouse, in addition to the retreat center. Gurukula means “a place to grow” in Hindi, and Sahni said he expects the center to be a draw across the country and internationally.
At the same time, he said part of the tradition is to serve the community, and he intends Life Gurukula to welcome people regardless of their religious backgrounds. That includes for spiritual retreats and for other purposes.
“It’s where people can break away from the day-to-day hustle to find themselves and find inner peace,” Sahni said. “I’m hoping people from all over the country and hopefully the world will come and find peace.”
Keeping Akron motherhouse as a religious facility
Michael Coudriet, who attends St. Hilary Church in Fairlawn, has a relative who lived at the motherhouse before the sisters relocated to Columbus last year. He said as the number of sisters dwindled, the space became too much for them to keep up.
Coudriet remembers visiting his second cousin, Sister Mary Ann Weisemann, at the Elms motherhouse. He said he thinks bringing Life Gurukula to the space is “a great idea” and he hopes his parish might be able to learn there, too.
“I think it’ll get a lot of use,” Coudriet said. “Just to keep it continuing as a religious facility, I think that’s great.”
That wasn’t guaranteed. Sahni said the sisters had a competing offer from a developer, but his group approached their offer in an “entirely different way.”
That developer likely planned to tear the 1929 motherhouse down and build apartments, said Nichole Booker, a senior advisor with SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors, who helped Sahni find the property. She said the sisters made the decision that was “more than just what’s the best deal on paper.”
“It was more of a fit,” Booker said. “It was amazing; it was meant to be.”
She said Life Gurukula plans speakers and events focused on mindfulness to help create community engagement. Their first retreat is slated for October.
“They’re not just going to cater to the Hindu community,” Booker said. “It’s open doors for anybody.”
Knowing that the motherhouse will continue to have a religious purpose is meaningful to Coudriet. The same is true for Sister Patricia Twohill, the prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, who said in a statement the ideals that lead Sahni’s group to educate their young people and pursue a spiritual purpose “are perfectly aligned with our own aspirations.”
The sisters’ ecological ministry in Bath, Crown Point Ecology Center, will continue to educate people and practice organic gardening. The Our Lady of the Elms school, based out of the convent in 1923, was separately incorporated in 1999. It will continue for pre-K through high school. The school, which was once sponsored by Dominican Sisters of Peace — a congregation that was established to include seven Dominican Sisters groups — is now sponsored by Dominican Veritas Ministries.
Twohill did not respond to requests for further comment. In the statement, she said she hopes the group “will create a positive impact in the Akron community, offering a space for a new expression of spirituality and the search for peace.”
‘Blessed’ by motherhouse purchase
Sahni, similarly, said he thought the priorities of the two groups were aligned. Life Gurukula will help people understand scriptures, the purpose of rituals and how they benefit their lives, he said. They’ll be able to join retreat programs that are as short as a day or as long as a month. He intends for Akron, and the former motherhouse, to be the group’s headquarters going forward.
The plans are elaborate, but they’ll be ramped up slowly. After all, the sale only closed on Wednesday. It was first reported by Crain’s Cleveland Business.
Sahni said he doesn’t plan many structural changes to the property — the combination of shared space and individual rooms is a perfect fit for Life Gurukula’s plans.
He called himself lucky to have found the motherhouse, saying the Akron community is amazing and he feels at peace with the purchase.
“I really feel blessed,” Sahni said. “It’s hard to find a place like this in the middle of civilization. Usually, you have to go far away.”